Order Details and Results

Logo Moo is one of many subsidiaries of Branded Logo Designs. If you do a Google search for "affordable logo design" there is a good chance you will come across one of their websites. I would have avoided them entirely if I had read their reviews beforehand, but the customer service was persuasive and even called me to talk me through the sale He even offered free Copyright Transfer when I asked him about it (which, in the end, would be offered to me for an extra $100). The details of the package are no longer listed. It is most likely a sales page that I will never find again.

Logo Moo (Branded Logo Designs) appeared as a Google Ad, at the top of the page, when I searched "affordable logo design". When I clicked on their ad, I was directed to a webpage that looked and functioned like almost every other logo design site webpage you might come across through a Google Ad. There was a generic looking template, and a call-to-action for a limited-time-only sale, And there was a bottom, right-hand corner messenger pop-up with a live person ready to answer my questions.

I paid $45 and I believe I was supposed to get 6 original concepts and unlimited revisions. After making payment, my account manager, Jim, called me up to introduce himself and ask me about the details of my project. I had sent the sales person my concepts, which were only 3 at the time, in a zip folder and noted to Jim that I hoped his designers would follow my concepts. He suggested the designers could come up with some original ideas. I should have insisted he stick with my ideas, but instead, I decided to trust his judgment. Big mistake. A couple of days later, I received 12 of the most generic concepts I could have imagined. (Note: they did send me 12 generic concepts instead of the 6 they had offered.) None of them were good, but I did like a microphone image in one of their concepts I thought might be something to build upon. (I later came across the microphone on a stock photo site.) I suggested adding a character to the design. After several revisions, they hadn't managed to create something even remotely attractive. I was getting extremely frustrated with the design.

My Concept

After several rounds of revisions, I had an idea for my logo that I thought they could easily complete to my satisfaction. I sketched it out, scanned it and suggested in the comments they could complete this design. Their initial attempt at it was a decent black and white outline of my design. Now they only had to add some professional touches to it. This is where their lack of artistic ability failed them. Even simple revisions, well-explained, were so poorly done I felt insulted by them. I was going so far as to play with the design in Inkscape and send them parts of the design near completion. Not only did each revision take longer and longer, often not hearing from them for 3 days or more, but their designers could not even replicate my simple Inkscape backgrounds.

(Their attempts at my concept: The first one was decent, but when I suggested they touch it up and introduce some color to the background, it completely fell apart.)

Fast forward a month, and I was getting nowhere with Logo Moo. I was frustrated with them and I believe they were frustrated with me. They did change personnel to communicate with me. For a few days, I felt maybe we could complete this... finally. Unfortunately, by the 2nd round of revisions, I realized this design team was just not very talented. I felt it unfair to ask for a refund after all their efforts, but they were still unable to complete this concept to my satisfaction. I felt we were both wasting time and effort and I didn't want to deal with them anymore. It would be my loss. One night while going through their past concepts and revisions I found some original artwork I had dismissed at the time. I thought it might be something I could play with and complete with my limited Adobe Illustrator skills. I wanted something original out of my trial with them. This is where my business with Branded Logo Design would end. I asked them for the corresponding files for this design. They tried to upsell me the Copyright Transfer for $100 and I told them we would never be using this logo (except for this review, of course). They still sent me files. The Adobe Illustrator file looked good. All the layers were there. I thanked them and got a "You're Welcome" in response.

Conclusion

This was a painful experience from start to finish; by far the worst experience I've had with this logo project. That said, I would be interested to know if the outcome would have been different if I had given them the 9 concepts with instructions I now have AND insisted that they follow them. As compelling as this is, not with my money.